Located down Southmost near the Audubon Sabal Palm Sanctuary
Photos by Jorge Terrazas 2006
By Sara Inés Calderón
The Brownsville Herald
November 2006
Jimmy Paz remembers as a child playing with his friends in the “palm jungle” in deep Southmost.
On their make-believe journeys through this jungle, Paz and friends played around the two-story Rabb House.
Paz is now director of the Sabal Palm Audubon Center and Sanctuary, which recently bought and plans to restore the Southern-type home.
Paz said the house is a valuable historic asset and he’s looking to fix it up.
“I think it’s a very valuable asset to the community because we have the history portion of it and the ecosystem right next to it,” Paz said.
A native of Brownsville, Paz remembers the house from his childhood when he and his friends would go hunting in the “palm jungle.”
The Rabb House, named after former Rio Grande riverboat Captain Frank Rabb who built it in 1875, is as historic as the Charles Stillman House in downtown Brownsville, Paz said. Not restoring it, or tearing it down, would be a shame. The center purchased the land and inherited the house from the Vaughn family last year with help from the Pine Tree Foundation, Paz said.
Once restored, the Rabb House would eventually serve as a visitor’s center, replete with space for different activities, an education center, and plenty of space for the community, Paz said.
The two-story structure is surrounded by a brick pathway, obscured by numerous weeds and anthills that have sprung up in the absence of tenants. An old wooden play fort, disheveled brick barbecue pit and plenty of palms and other trees stand in the yard.
The white house with green trim is structurally sound and features details one wouldn’t notice without looking for them, Paz said.
Stained-glass windows, a rising sun adorned in wood, white shingles with rounded tops, carved wooden pillars — even the hinges on the doors on the inside are engraved.
But it needs a lot of work.
Thus far, the center has raised $75,000 in a grant from the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, Paz said, enough to start on the house and “stabilize” it. Restoring the house to its former glory will cost $450,000 to $500,000 in all, he said.
The roof must be replaced, and the 10 rooms, eight fireplaces, one large kitchen and three bathrooms on the two stories each require different levels of work.
“If somebody would write us a check, that would be great,” Paz laughed.
sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com